Growing Number of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Devices Affected by Insidious 'Touch Disease'

[wlossw]

I had this problem with my iPhone 6 plus, 15 months after purchase. It never went in my back pocket, and apple agreed it was in cosmetically perfect condition. I convinced apple to replace it at no cost to me, but it was a real PITA. It required referring to a little-known consumer protection law in Quebec called the "legal warranty": https://www.educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/legal-warranty-automatic-protection-consumers.

Basically in Quebec, when you buy a "premium" product manufacturers have to stand by the warranty for longer than the usual year (varies on a case-by-case basis) but 2-3 years for an iPhone is reasonable...

When I mentioned this fact at the apple store, they immediately told me they couldn't help me any further and I would have to call the "legal" department. By the time I got AppleCare on the phone, they agreed to replace the phone "as a one-time goodwill gesture," but only after I threatened to take them to small claims court...

All's well that ends well for me, too bad they are still giving people the run around for what is clearly a design flaw.

 

[jsmakr]

I had mine replaced last week because of this issue which surfaced on it's own. No AppleCare or warranty left since phone is about 16 months old but Apple replaced it with a new unit without much effort. I started a chat support online and then was connected with a Supervisor over the phone to put in the replacement.

 

[Jax44]

Yea , the components are packed in so tightly , i knew it would be a matter of time before something like this would happen. Looks like the race to ever thinner devices isn't always the best strategy.

What other future problems do you know about?.

 

[thespacekid]

Mine was under warranty and was replaced. To get it to occur at the Apple Store, the guy would press or squeeze in the upper right corner. Sounded like it was a connector issue. My screen would be unresponsive until you put it to sleep and woke it up. It would work until it happened again. This was on a 6 plus.

 

[bsnelson]

"iFixit suggests taking an affected iPhone 6 or 6 Plus to an electronics repair shop able to replace the chips."
- Does anyone know how to find such a shop?

 

[ziggie216]

Thanks. I was about to purchase a new screen for a phone that have this same problem. Just saved me about $120ish for something that wouldnt fix this problem.

 

[barnyard]

This exact problem started happening to me within the last couple of months. I get a gray bar towards the dock that periodically redraws itself. I also have to occasionally hit the off switch to restore the ability to have the screen identify touch (until I do, nothing registers). Also, at times, my phone seems possessed - ghost touching, opening apps, closing apps, typing, etc. I think all of it is related to faulty hardware. I bought my iPhone 6 Plus at launch.

 

[A7ibaba]

Keep calm and chill. Nothing that mass class action, class suit, or representative action cant solve .

 

[keysofanxiety]

define widespread, in percentage number of defective units over the total sold.

That's a slightly loaded question I can't reasonably answer; I'm hoping you appreciate why.

What is the percentage of 2011 15/17" Radeon failures on the MacBook Pros? The 2007/2008 NVIDIA failures on the 15/17" MacBook Pros? The battery failure for the iPhone 5? Nobody can even begin to provide rough percentages for this.

However when the issue is documented and directly linked to the manufacturing process itself, this is different. It means that if you have the problem occurring, it's not just a simple "components fail, sorry you're out of warranty" scenario. You must appreciate the difference.

 

[mi7chy]

"iFixit suggests taking an affected iPhone 6 or 6 Plus to an electronics repair shop able to replace the chips."
- Does anyone know how to find such a shop?

Contact Jessa Jones at ipad Rehab in the video since she has established a good reputation. You can either ship it to her or possibly get a recommendation for a place closer to you.

http://mendonipadrehab.com/

Here's her blog on the issue for further info.

http://mendonipadrehab.com/entries/...ues-to-pull-the-wool-over-the-consumer-s-eyes

 

[ACG12]

I had mine replaced last week because of this issue which surfaced on it's own. No AppleCare or warranty left since phone is about 16 months old but Apple replaced it with a new unit without much effort. I started a chat support online and then was connected with a Supervisor over the phone to put in the replacement.

More details? What all did you have to say/do in order for them to replace an out of warranty phone?

 

[Mainyehc]

"Dozens" of complaints on Apple Forum = "Epidemic"??

Did you even bother to watch the video? A specialist who works in the field says 50% of the 6 and 6 Plus models her company services are affected by this issue. That isn't an epidemic, it's a complete flustercuck.

And AFAIK, according to EU law (which even got Apple into legal trouble in Italy), our warranties are good for 2 years. Even without a class action lawsuit (which would be fully deserved, IMHO), Apple will have to replace *a lot* of iPhones for free over this side of the Atlantic, I reckon…

 

[gnipgnop]

They probably "dumbed" it down for the general public. Pretty sure most consumers have no idea what BGA means.

Or dumbed it down in order to be misleading. BGA isn't an unusual manufacturing technique for electronics, and the fact that it can potentially separate due to flexing is not specific to the iPhone. It's specific to BGA itself. This sounds similar to all the people that pretended cell phone attenuation was something specific to the iPhone.

 

[StevieD100]

Gotta maintain those profits, right Mr. Cook?

Well, if the USA had decent consumer protection laws then Apple would have to stump up for a replacement.
You don't so what do you expect apart from those who have Apple Care.
As for this problem, I'm not seeing it on my 20month old iPhone 6 so it might be confined to a few batches of devices. We don't know yet.

 

[SeaFox]

You are touching it wrong?

That's what she said.

But iFixit says Apple is refusing to acknowledge the problem...

They'll acknowledge it eventually, like in 3-4 years from now when everyone has already gotten rid of their iPhone 6's on their own. That's how companies keep the claims down on this stuff.

 

[cableguy84]

What other future problems do you know about?.

Siri tells me the future

 

[2457248]

That's a slightly loaded question I can't reasonably answer; I'm hoping you appreciate why.

What is the percentage of 2011 15/17" Radeon failures on the MacBook Pros? The 2007/2008 NVIDIA failures on the 15/17" MacBook Pros? The battery failure for the iPhone 5? Nobody can even begin to provide rough percentages for this.

However when the issue is documented and directly linked to the manufacturing process itself, this is different. It means that if you have the problem occurring, it's not just a simple "components fail, sorry you're out of warranty" scenario. You must appreciate the difference.

i appreciate your answer.
my opinion though is that the issue in this case is not linked to manufacturing or design choices, except maybe being a side-effect of the well known bendgate.
Actually, under these terms, (i'm no expert and not familiar with US laws) there maybe the conditions for a class action, even wiki states:

A disadvantage of BGAs is that the solder balls cannot flex in the way that longer leads can, so they are not mechanically compliant. As with all surface mount devices, bending due to a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between PCB substrate and BGA (thermal stress) or flexing and vibration (mechanical stress) can cause the solder joints to fracture.

interested to see how this will develop!

 

[jsmakr]

More details? What all did you have to say/do in order for them to replace an out of warranty phone?

#1 just be very polite. I sent the rep over online support chat an example YouTube video of the problem. Once I got on the phone with a supervisor I did mention the countless online discussion threads I've come across after some quick googling pointing out that problem is widespread and due to no fault of the owners. Also mentioned that the phone has always been kept in a Apple leather case and no cosmetic blemished or water damage. Problem just started on its own.

 

[Dadioh]

If the design is as they say, it is just crappy design. Solder is soft and will deform over time. If they are using a solder pad (or ball) to be a contact, then it was designed to fail.

Umm. Just about every electronic product you own uses Ball Grid Array (BGA) packaging. The issue is not with BGA itself but rather the root cause is the move to RoHS which gets rid of lead in the solder. Lead solder is actually much more reliable since it is softer and can respond to multiple stretch and shrink cycles. The new leadless solder is more brittle which leads to cracking. So, in the rush to get rid of lead in solder, they have in fact created a large problem of products with failed solder joints in land fill sites.

 

[friedmud]

A workaround I've found that always seems to work - when my screen becomes unresponsive (iPhone 6s +) is to turn off the display (button on side). When I press button again, the touchscreen works again.

It's the same for me on iPhone 6+. Been this way for over a year. It only happens every couple of days or so... but it's always fixed by turning the screen off and then on again. Annoying, but not the end of the world.

I haven't ever seen the "grey bar" thing though...

 

[Lennholm]

And two years from now, a Repair Extension Program will be made official through a support document starting with the phrase "We have discovered that a very small number of..."

 

[jasperc]

This happened to 6+ over a year ago. I took it to the Apple store, showed them the issue and they replaced it immediately.

Ditto. Just happened to me two months ago. I have AppleCare for my phone, which likely played a role.

 

[gnipgnop]

As for this problem, I'm not seeing it on my 20month old iPhone 6 so it might be confined to a few batches of devices. We don't know yet.

Any mobile device that uses BGA could potentially develop the issue. BGA is susceptible to damage from flexing…doesn't matter if it's an Apple product or not.

 

[cableguy84]

Glad iFixIt has a new girl for these videos. The last one was getting too fat and hard on the eye.

Yea, she was a unit.

 

[jasperc]

For me the gray bar flashes in and out, and during this there is no touch response. I can get the phone working again by slightly twisting it. So definitely a hardware problem.

Instead of twisting it, try locking the phone with the lock button and unlocking it. Before I had my unit replaced, this worked for me. The benefit is that you won't be bending your phone....